New York Man Charged for Imams Murder

A New York man has been charged with second-degree murder for the deaths of a New York Imam and his assistant.

The charges against 35-year-old Oscar Morel of Brooklyn, came just hours after hundreds of mourners gathered for the outdoor funeral of the two men.

55-year-old Moulana Akonjee the Imam of Al-Furqan Jame Masjid in Queens and 64-year-old Thara Uddin were fatally shot in the head in the Ozone Park section by a man dressed in a dark polo shirt and shorts who approached them from behind as they left the masjid shortly before Zuhr salaah on Saturday.

The killings in the borough of Queens has shocked the neighbourhood’s Bangladeshi community.

A police spokesperson told Reuters Morel was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and also was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

The spokesman did not disclose any possible motive for the shooting.

Morel had been questioned by police following his arrest on charges related to a hit-and-run traffic accident on Saturday, the day of the shootings.

Police told a briefing before the charges were announced that a suspect being questioned was a Hispanic man from Brooklyn.

A number of speakers at the funeral implored authorities to investigate the murders as hate crimes and to step up efforts to protect mosques and parts of the city like Ozone Park where many Muslims live and work.

“We want justice,” Badrul Kahn, founder of the Al-Furqan mosque, shouted to the crowd in the service’s opening speech.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, addressing the funeral, promised the city would bolster the police presence in the neighbourhood even though the motive behind the killings was still unclear.

Police had said earlier that there was no evidence the men were targeted because of their faith but nothing was being ruled out.

New York – Hundreds of mourners gathered in New York City on Monday for the outdoor funeral for a Muslim cleric and his associate who were gunned down over the weekend, as police questioned a man about the killings that shocked the neighbourhood’s Bangladeshi community.

The traditional Islamic services for Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, drew a large crowd to a parking area near where the men were killed after Saturday prayers at the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens.

The suspect being questioned was arrested on charges related to a hit-and-run traffic accident on the day of the murders, police said at a briefing.

He was described as a 36-year-old Hispanic man from the borough of Brooklyn, but they declined to give his name.

A motive for the killings has not been determined, police said, adding that there was still no known connection between the man being questioned and the murder victims.

“We believe because of the evidence we have acquired thus far that … this is the individual,” New York City Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said when asked if he could reassure the rattled community.

Speaker after speaker at the funeral had implored authorities to investigate the murders as hate crimes and to step up efforts to protect mosques and parts of the city like Ozone Park where many Muslims live and work.

“We want justice,” Badrul Kahn, founder of the Al-Furqan mosque and its chief adviser, shouted to the crowd in the service’s opening speech. “We want justice,” responded the mourners, most of them men dressed in Islamic garb.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, addressing the funeral, promised the city would bolster the police presence in the neighbourhood even though the motive behind the killings was still unclear.

“We don’t know what happened but we will,” the mayor said. “An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.”

Police had said earlier that there was no evidence the men were targeted because of their faith but nothing was being ruled out.

The victims appeared to have been stalked by a lone gunman who shot them in the head at close range at about 1:50 p.m. (1750 GMT) on Saturday, police said after interviewing witnesses and watching surveillance video.

Residents of Ozone Park were shaken by the brazen daylight killings and said such a crime was rare in the quiet neighbourhood.

Felix Lopez, 26, who has lived in Ozone Park for a decade and works at a barber shop, said the Muslims in the neighbourhood, many of Bangladeshi heritage, were very friendly and there was little rancour between ethnic groups in the area.